grazing

[redbabe08]

i read a thread OvertHere that had too many hits & my question never got answered. so i'll post here.

i'm struggling with eating - 2/3 bites & done. so i have been eating every hour and a half to 3 hrs, still never getting to 500 calories a day.

i can't make a 1-2 ounce plate & eat it in one sitting and then wait to the next appropriate meal time. my nut/surgeon said just keep eating to get all my protein in (which i get from shakes).

there is much talk that this leads to gain...i really only gained weight back with the lap band after 18 months unfilled due to slips.

the sad thing is i'm a foodie & hate the 2 bites and done and cold seafood or reheating sucks.

*tad of a vent really*

[Brandilynn]

Honestly girlie, you have to get your food in however you can at this point until you can consume a bit more at once. And if you are unable to eat more than a few bites right now, then you do what you have to. I would not worry about it until your capacity increases, or say you can even get more than 500 calories.

Sorry its such a hassle for you, that has to be a bummer. BOO!

[redbabe08]

boo is right.

i go for 3 month labs next wk & i'm just going to do this my way - eating when i can. i just see the grazing NO NO going on more frequently, and i just don't see how i can do this with out a few bites ever so often.

xoxo

[Brandilynn]

I think the fact that you understand that later it will not be a helpful behavior, but now its purposeful, not just boredom grazing - that makes a difference.

Whoot about your labs! I am always excited to see folks' labs! *lab geek*

[Carolyn H.]

I can only eat about 2oz of anything dense at a time, and I'm also a foodie. I deal with it by cooking really awesome tasting (and often very spicy) things that I can portion out. One thing I do is buy really good grass-fed ground beef. I mix it up with seasoning, spice (Mrs. Dash, garlic, onion, sriracha, for example), and then make 2 1/2 oz burgers. I freeze them raw in individual snack-size bags. For dinner, i pull one out, defrost it, and I'm ready to go. They cook down to less than 2oz by volume (my capacity). I'll use like a Ryvita or a Sandwich Thin Mini and make a little gourmet slider. Tonight I had mine with Jarlsburg and some carrots I pickled over the weekend for another dish.

I'll make a loaf of Gyro meat and home-made taztziki sauce on the weekend. For dinners during the week, I'll shave off 1 1/2-2oz of meat, toss it on grill pan, and eat it with the tzatziki and some cucumbers in a boston bibb lettuce wrap.

Lots of flavor makes those little bites special. During weightloss, I also ate 4 "meals" a day, planned out, rather than 3 because my capacity is limited and I supplement with protein coffee and Atkins Daybreak Bars (Peanut Butter Crisp). Those bars are a go-to for me with 10g of protein, 8g fiber, and only 6g sugar alcohol.

[loulou7]

I don't think of "grazing" as fixing a meal and eating it slowly over an hour or more, if that's how long it takes you to eat it at this point. Or even eating six or seven small meals throughout the day to get your nutrition in.

I think of grazing as opening the fridge, looking around, nabbing a couple cookies or crackers, then eating a handful of chips on the way out of the kitchen. Repeat the process ten minutes later. You know.....mindless nibbling.

What you're doing is working to get all your nutrition in slowly so that it stays in.

And those tiny sliders sound wonderful. Early out I did something similar, but made little meatballs and fixed different sauces to go on them, with melted cheese on top. I could eat maybe 2 meatballs before I was done.

[Deleted]

grazing = bad if it is not

mindful eating = eating food you need even if in tiny amounts and frequently.


the whole idea that it has to be a certain number of meals/snacks and/or a certain number of hours inbetween eating is something what works for some but not all. not me!

[loulou7]

My surgeon was all, like, THREE MEALS A DAY AND NO MORE, and I could never get on board with that. I figure it's all about deciding what I'm going to eat to fulfill me nutritionally as well as spiritually, and then eating when I want to. And enjoying it.

I'm not going to sit down and shove a meal down my throat just because it's "dinner time". My mother did that to me, and it didn't serve me well.

I don't necessarily tell my surgeon that - his job was to amputate my stomach and he did that. My job is to learn how to feed myself and take care of my health for the rest of my life and I'M the EXPERT on that!

[muffinsmom]

Loulou7 - great post! hear, hear!

[Lee]

My surgeons plan is 3 meals, no protein supplementation. I've had to figure out what works for me. That said, I understand that my Expertise got me to 249.8 pounds and onto the operating table.

I pay attention to the brainiacs that had surgery before me and what works for them.

I'm a food addict and can't always be trusted to make the wisest decisions when it ones to food.

[Deleted]

Feb 3, 2012 18:33:51 GMT -5 Lee said:

My surgeons plan is 3 meals, no protein supplementation. I've had to figure out what works for me. That said, I understand that my Expertise got me to 249.8 pounds and onto the operating table.

I pay attention to the brainiacs that had surgery before me and what works for them.

I'm a food addict and can't always be trusted to make the wisest decisions when it ones to food.

haven't you ever found any thing that works for you? that you recognize as working well and you got a big feeling of YES - THIS??


whenever I found something other than eating that held my attention - to the point that I wouldn't think about food unless my stomach rumbled - that was what I have been working towards. a life that doesn't revolve around food except for - hopefully - every now and then.

you get a brief holiday from what your normal was but expect things to change so you are ready and not freaked out or thrown off or whatever.

I think the rules - so many rules, always measure, whatever - work fine for some people - you figure out what works for you and discard the rest. keeping in mind that things change.

enjoy it, practice new habits, and have a long term vision you are working towards.

emphasis on enjoy!

[Deleted]

damn duplicate post!

[paige]

I still sort of have to graze to get in calories/protein on most days. I am not sure how far out you are, but I Am almost 5 months out, and I eat a lot of beef jerky throughout the day to up my protein.

[jillybean720]

Grazing is only bad if you end up eating too much or not pay attention to what or how much you're eating because of it. I "grazed" my way down 120+ pounds and have "grazed" my way to only about a 20-pound gain so far in my pregnancy (about 33 weeks along). Many sources recommend eating every 2-3 hours throughout the day as a healthy way of keeping the metabolism revved up, anyway.

[susan1219]

I have heard that not eating enough or frequent enough will cause the metabolism to slow back down and will cause not losing weight as quickly. I do not eat a lot right now...just three meals (if you want to call them meals...they are maybe 6 bites) and my protein. I am going to try to start putting snacks in there and I am also bad about skipping my meal times because of being busy.